BioWare’s new sci-fi epic offers fantastic action and some impressive role-playing options, but what about the story?

For such a popular franchise, Mass Effect seems to attract controversy with surprising ease. Five years ago everyone was up in arms about the ending to Mass Effect 3, and today the Internet is awash with memes and videos about the animation and bugs in Mass Effect: Andromeda. And although in some cases the problems have been exaggerated, there’s no denying that the core complaints are valid. But despite falling at the last, Mass Effect 3 was still a great game. With Andromeda the problems run more deeply, and we’re actually surprised we ended up enjoying it as much as we did.

Most video game franchises start to get self-conscious about their age round about the fourth or fifth entry, at which point it becomes common for them to stop putting numbers at the end of their name. But Andromeda is not necessarily the start of a new trilogy, and it’s certainly not a sequel to the third game. It is instead a spin-off, and starts off being set between the events of Mass Effect 2 and 3. Although this fact is largely irrelevant because, as the game’s intro informs you, it takes 600-odd years of hypersleep travel to reach the nearby galaxy of Andromeda.

What the game is strangely unwilling to tell you though is why. Tens of thousands of humans and aliens have made the trip, and yet nobody seems to have contacted the existing occupants of the galaxy in advance. Not only that, but the Milky Way’s big plan is to turn up unannounced and instantly start colonising planets, while giving an unreasonable amount of control to a paramilitary leader who thinks it’s a good idea to have two of his own children in his elite combat squad.

You play as one of these two children (depending on whether you want to be male or female) and are quickly promoted to the position of ‘Pathfinder’. This involves getting your own spaceship, a hand-picked crew (well, actually it’s just the first six people you meet), and the authority to boss around everyone and anyone. The whole plot to Andromeda is very poorly thought out, and it seems BioWare started with the idea of discovering and nurturing colonies as the structural underpinning of the game – a little like building up your forces for the final battle in Mass Effect 3 – but was never able to work out a sensible story context for it all.

The other aspect to the plot is a more straightforward battle to defeat a galaxy-threatening enemy. Their means and methods are rather cliché, if you’ve watched or read any amount of sci-fi, but at least dealing with them seems less contrived. But while the borderline nonsensical backstory is a disappointment, it’s by no means disastrous. The more serious problem is just how badly written the game’s dialogue and characters can be.

The quality of BioWare’s scripts has always been inconsistent, but in Andromeda there’s a worrying tendency for characters to talk only in terms of pure plot exposition or by slowly and carefully describing their personality – as if they’re dictating a personal profile on a job or dating site – rather than just demonstrating it through words and actions. The dialogue is about as natural as spray-on cheese and the majority of voice actors seem understandably bored and confused by what they’re forced to say.

Mass Effect: Andromeda (PS4) -the sex scenes only have a 16 age rating

Almost every character is portrayed as a smartass and seems to be doing their level best to be as flippant as possible in the most inappropriate of situations. You quickly get the impression that BioWare has begun to worry (or been told) that the sci-fi setting wasn’t cool enough, and reacted by adding lots of snarky dialogue and endless flirting with your crew members. But the earnest nerdiness of the original games was part of the charm. Andromeda’s dialogue feels like the script equivalent of dad dancing at a wedding, as it tries desperately to impress but just ends up embarrassing everyone.

And then there’s the animation problems. In terms of visuals Andromeda is a very peculiar mix. The landscapes and interior are often stunning, and yet even on a PS4 Pro they’re prone to serious frame rate issues. Other bugs and glitches are far less common than the early complaints would have you believe, but the animation is awful no matter what happens – especially when it comes to faces.

The bizarre features of the default female version of the protagonist has been much commented upon, but many of the other characters look equally odd. Hair is uniformly terrible and you start to get the impression the artists themselves are aliens and have never actually seen a human in real life.

At this point Andromeda is probably sounding pretty terrible, and if you only play these games for the plot and characters it kind of is. What makes the game so confounding is that the majority of the other stuff is great. The combat and movement system is fantastic and, as the enjoyable multiplayer proves, almost up to the standards of a standalone action game. The third person shooting has always been good in Mass Effect but the addition of a jetpack and dodge works perfectly, and ensures it never feels like a chore.

Your new land vehicle is just as much fun to drive, with multiple open world style planet surfaces to explore and complete side quests on. These areas aren’t quite as large as they first appear, but they definitely make good on the promise of exploration in Mass Effect 1 – that was never fulfilled originally because the original Mako vehicle was such a pain to drive.

BioWare has made a big fuss about bringing back not only the Mako but also more involved role-playing elements. Character progression isn’t massively different though, even if there are more skill trees than before and you can unlock multiple character class profiles that give unique abilities and buffs for different play styles. It seems just the right level of depth for the style of game though, especially when combined with the more complex research and development options – which are essentially weapon and armour crafting by any other name. Although finding enough of the right materials is so time-consuming this is never as engaging as it should be.

Mass Effect: Andromeda (PS4) – in terms of action it’s great

Andromeda is going to be the cause of so much argument over the next few weeks that we genuinely fear the lengths to which some fans will take their attack, or defence, of the game. This will be fuelled by the fact that, depending on what aspects most appeal to you, Andromeda is either a mild disappointment or an affront to all you hold dear. Although beyond the script and storytelling the other major problem is that so many of the missions, particularly the smaller sub quests are, like the characters, so predictable and cliché.

But the crux of the issue for us is not that the script is poor, but that it leaves so little for you to latch onto. None of the Mass Effect (or Dragon Age) games were particularly well written, with most characters and situations just reusing simple tropes and stereotypes. But there was an enthusiastic naivety to the adventures, where the simple fact that you spent so much time with these characters leading you to superimpose your own story details on top of the bare bones offered to you.

But that never happened for us with Andromeda. We didn’t particularly like any of the characters and interacting with them often comes across like some purposefully silly-looking YouTube skit. Whereas the team behind Andromeda’s action and role-playing elements have used the five years since Mass Effect 3 wisely it feels like those working on the script and story have only just woken up from hypersleep themselves, and dashed out this rushed and worryingly flawed game in a matter of weeks, not years.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

In Short: What could have been an all-time classic action role-player is let down by a surprisingly poor script and unengaging characters.

Pros: Top notch action, with great third person combat and enjoyable open world exploration. Expanded role-playing elements are pitched just right.

Cons: The script is often extremely poor, the plot rarely makes any sense, and the characters are not endearing. Too many dull missions. Some terrible animation, plus notable bugs and frame rate issues.